Tag Archives: fred damore

Cleaning gutters is an easy job to put off, but the longer you wait the worse it can get. Thoroughly cleaning your gutters every spring and fall will help keep them working like they’re supposed to. Debris can build up and cause damage to your downspouts and cause water damage to your roof.

An ice dam is a ridge of ice that forms at the edge of a roof and prevents melting snow (water) from draining off the roof. The water that backs up behind the dam can leak into a home and cause damage to walls, ceilings, insulation, and other areas.

Most people know that they need to have to the house gutters cleaned. We know that if leaves and debris block the flow of water it will freeze in the winter. But for some reason this easy cleaning is overlooked. Calling a gutter cleaning company is a quick and easy fix. I recently had my gutters in Woburn cleaned out. For years I didn’t think there would be much of anything in the gutters because there is not a tree near the front of the house and only a few in the back of the house. I called American Gutters and set up an appointment, and for $80 they cleaned the front and back gutters on the house. After American Gutters was at my house and cleaned the gutters, they left a trash bag full of leaves and dirt. I could not believe the amount of leaves and debris that was in there. Now I set up an appointment for them to come every year. It is money well spent to not have to worry about clogged gutters or worse …damage to your home that ice dams can cause because of clogged gutters.

About the author : Fred DaMore is a Mortgage Specialist at Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation. In addition he is a local homeowner who pays attention to his annual home maintenance requirements. Feel free to contact him at fred.damore@fairwaymc.com

In Woburn we never had to deal with mice so I didn’t even imagine that when we purchased a house in Killington, Vermont that we would have unwelcome houseguests.

I heard that traps work best, but you need at least 6 or more. The amount of traps is not the reason why I do not use them… Yes, I snapped my finger in one. I decided to use the electronic mousetraps. They are simple to use because you just plug them into the wall outlet. I’m not sure if they work or not, but I use them. I have also tried d-CON. I’m very careful using this product because I don’t want my dog to get at it and chew on the box. The d-CON method attracts the mouse/mice to the trap and then it eats the poison, travels outside to get water and then dies somewhere outside the house. (Well, they sometimes die in the house, but we may not be in Vermont for weeks so there is an unpleasant smell. )

So, with that being said, I still have mice as unwelcome houseguests. I am going to continue to use d-CON and the electronic mousetraps, but this fall I’m going to add mothballs. Mice don’t like the strong smell of mothball so I’m going to see if that makes a difference.

Please, I need advice on this so please share your thoughts.

About the author : Fred DaMore is a Mortgage Specialist at Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation, homeowner and self-acclaimed do it yourselfer. Feel free to contact him at fred.damore@fairwaymc.com

We have a second home in Killington VT. Our home in Woburn has city water and sewer lines. Last December, we were in Killington and I had to use the bathroom. I attempted to flush the toilet and nothing; it didn’t work. We had no water. I yelled, “Ann the toilet is not working”. She said “great, this is what happens when you don’t have city water and sewer lines.” We went to the basement to check the utility room and discovered that there was no water pressure in the pump tank. We told everyone who was in the house not to use the bathrooms and we all went skiing. We thought that in about 5 hours the water would regain pressure and we would be fine.

At about 1:00pm that afternoon, my friend Jeff (who is an electrician) came over to make sure there were not any electrical issues. What we found was that the pump in the system was working fine and we could hear the pump spinning, but no water was coming up the well. Jeff suggested getting our hose and tapping into the neighbor’s outside faucet to fill the well with water to see how long it would last.. We filled the well for 4 hours and it worked fine.

The next day we spoke to the plumber that put in the well and he came by and tested it. The pipe had 50 feet of water in it, so we were ok. But we still did not know why we had this issue. Days went by, no problems, the water worked fine. Then the same week we were in the basement (there is a bathroom down there) and heard the toilet running. Finally we figured out what happened. The basement toilet was running all week when we were not at the house and the system could not recover, causing no water to be in the well. I changed all the stoppers in each toilet in the bathrooms and so far so good 2 months and no well issues.

About the author : Fred DaMore is a Mortgage Specialist at Ross Mortgage, homeowner and self-acclaimed do it yourselfer. Feel free to contact him at fred.damore@rossmortgageco.com

Buying a home is a milestone. When you are young you listen to everything your parents say. Once you reach the age of 13 you stop telling your parents everything. At 16 years old, you can drive. By 18 years of age you graduate high school and think you know everything. Somewhere in your late 20’s, 30’s or early 40’s you will buy your first home or your next home and you may find yourself at Ikea. For young new homeowners, you will get the best bang for your buck, just bring a truck. All Ikea furniture has to be assembled. It doesn’t take too long but if you miss a step you will be taking it apart and starting over. Last month, Auntie Jean and my favorite cousin Nicole closed on a home. The strange part is, the week before the closing my wife wanted to use my truck to help Nicole pick up some items. They went and bought many things. The following weekend, my family and I went to see the new house and then it happened……. “ Fred, in the back of the truck there are 2 full size beds and drawers that need to be assembled.” So in 3 hours I assembled all the furniture (Ann helped) and then they let me eat dinner. I guess the moral of my story is that if everyone goes to Ikea after purchasing a home, they’ll need someone like me to put it all together.

The one thing that is always over-looked in a home is a dryer vent. Now, we have all cleaned out the lint catch in front of the dryer, but what about the hose and vent that distributes the air outside? If you have kids like me, laundry is an everyday event. These appliances are used a lot. When was the last time you checked the hose on the back of the dryer?

These are a few things that I have found over the years. I have had the washer machine sitting on top of the dryer vent so no air could escape. I have had the dryer vent clogged with lint and no air going through. I have also had the dryer vent disconnected. This is one of those places in the house that no one wants to look at. Just to see back there you have to pull washer and dryer out and have a full HAZMAT suit on!

My friend Matt checked his dryer vent this past weekend. He found that it was not connected to the outside of the house at all. The hose ran through the floorboards and was just blowing lint into the insulation. This is a big problem because it could start a fire. To resolve this issue, he cut a hole in the basement ceiling and reconnected the hose to vent the dryer to the outside. Most likely this had been going on for years.

Another one of my friends had a dryer issue and asked me to see what was going on with it. I climbed up a ladder to the second floor vent and lo and behold there was a family of birds living in the vent preventing the dryer from venting properly.

Here are some facts and figures from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA):

Dryers and washing machines were involved in one out of every 22 home structure fires reported to U.S. fire departments in 2006-2010.

This is a true story about the water leak we had in our house in Woburn. Around 10 AM I got a call from my Wife Ann. She said I think we have visitors (mice) again. She had heard tapping noises coming from the recessed ceiling in the basement. At 11 AM she called in panic that mice are not in the house but we have a water leak somewhere. The ceiling in the basement was expanding and about to burst and water was dripping down the wall and onto the couch.

I had her shut down the water and I drove home. I took ceiling tiles down to find the pipe. There was no visible pipe that was leaking so I had to start searching for the problem. First we checked all the toilets and under each sink. Next we checked the dishwasher, washing machine and icemaker in the refrigerator. Nothing! Then my wife says check the attic, what if the AC unit is broken and it is leaking. Nope, not that either. Maybe there is an issue with the roof. I checked the attic for any signs of water; everything looked good, no water there either. Now the reality of this is setting in. If a welding broke on a pipe inside the walls, we are going to have to call a plumber to start ripping down sheet rock to find it.

Ann says I’m calling my friend that does plumbing. I tell her no, I’m not ready for someone to just come and start ripping through the place. She calls anyway. Tony comes over. He goes through everything we did, and can’t find a thing and starts to tell Ann what is next. He said we may have to cut into walls to find the issue. As he is talking to her, he notices a small amount of water on the floor. He moved the water cooler and takes out the 5 gallon bottle (more than ½ of the bottle was gone) and bam there was a crack in the water bottle leaking at a slow rate. It was seeping through the hardwood floors without making a puddle. Who would have known this is what was leaking?

I guess as a homeowner sometimes the SMALLEST thing can cause the BIGGEST problems. Good thing that Tony is a longtime friend of the family. He and my wife had a good laugh over this.

About the Author: Fred DaMore is a Mortgage Specialist at Ross Mortgage, homeowner and self-acclaimed do it yourselfer. Feel free to contact him at fred.damore@rossmortgageco.com

This past Spring I gave my son Dylan my old iPhone. Dylan turned 10 in December of 2013. My thoughts on it were “he is becoming independent and I need to get in touch with him if there is a problem”. The main reason for giving him my old cell phone was that we ski at Killington on the weekends and I wanted to be able to track him and call him if he is not back at a certain time. His ski group ends at 3:00 PM. This particular day it was 3:15 PM he was not back so I called and texted him on his phone. I got no response. At 3:30 PM he came skiing down, and I said to him “I have been calling you, why did you not come back with your group?” Dylan said, “I know you were calling and I didn’t want to pick it up because you would just tell me to come back. So I just kept skiing.” Now I’m thinking to myself then “Why did I give him this iPhone?” I explained to him that I needed to know where he was so his Mom and I don’t worry.

The next few weeks he was better with the communication using the phone. This past weekend he had a competition at Mt. Snow. He had his cell phone so that we could find him if we needed too. At the end of the day I got a call from him crying, he gave me his location and I went to get him. He was with a medic and was able to call me so I could get to him quickly. He ended up with a fractured collarbone. In this moment I was happy that I made the decision to give him a cell phone. I got to him in minutes instead of hours, and that is a big deal to both of us. He is fine now and I’m glad he had the phone with him.

Being in the mortgage business for over 17 years, the first question asked of me is what can I afford to buy? I then answer their question with a question. What do you want to afford? The customer looks at me and says you’re the professional. I ask, “Do you have a budget, do you know what all your bills are and what projected bills will be?” How are you tracking this information?

It is sad to say but not many people prepare a household budget. I believe the reason for this is because people don’t want to know or see what they spend their money on. By putting it down on a spread sheet it makes you accountable for what you are doing with your money.

So back to your mortgage: how can you make a decision on what you can spend on a home if you have no idea what you spend now!

So how do you start? Just do it! On a spread sheet start inputting bills as they come in and as you spend money. Just by doing this one action you will find that you end up saving 25% more than you did prior to this. Just being aware will make you not buy that extra coffee, candy bar, or shirt.

Being part of your community is what you make of it. Get involved, it will help you grow.

I must say when my son wanted to get involved with soccer all I could think of is “Wow, my wife and I are going to be doing a lot of driving around the City for practices and games every week.” My oldest son, Dylan, participates in the Woburn youth soccer program. I love the way we have become part of the community. When Dylan was 6 years old he started playing soccer for a team called the Ravens. For the next 3 years he was on the same team with the same children (a mix of girls and boys) for the spring and fall seasons. Being part of a team for this amount of time, made all the players work with each other and learn the ins and outs of the game. The children became friends and wanted to participate in every practice and game. The children got to know each other’s capabilities and cheered each other on when one of them would reach out of their comfort zone and excel.

As for the parents we felt it, our children working as a team and we were proud. It also became a social event for the parents, to meet new people and make new friends. I’m sure we didn’t get as many invites due to my squawking aka cheering, on the sidelines, but we were the Ravens. Ravens squawk! And Coach Joe and Coach Eric loved it! I love to support my son and his team. I cheered on the Ravens and cheered for the opposing team’s goalie when he or she made a great save. Come game day, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends would be at the field. There is something that draws you in; you want to see the children do something new and better. It doesn’t matter who wins, it is about that one moment in time that your child does something and looks to see that you saw him or her. You can’t ever take that away! This is what its all about, having a great time with friends, learning and exceling in a sport. It makes the children have confidence and feel great about what they have accomplished.

This year my son moved up to an older age level. Things have changed a little… no girls on the team, bigger field, and more playing time. His team is called the spiders. Spiders don’t make any noise, so I don’t think I will be able to be the mascot this year. I’ll have to find something else to do to show my support. At the first game, even though the players are different, the parents on the sidelines are still watching and cheering for the all of the players. With all of the excitement of the game and the new faces, it’s still the same community feeling!

WHAT DO YOU DO IN THE SPRING IN New England?

About the Author: Fred DaMore is a Mortgage Specialist at Ross Mortgage and has enjoyed being part of the community through youth soccer. You can contact him at fred.damore@rossmortgageco.com